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was the summer mecca of high society. An elegant gentleman and his wife were lounging on the beach when an unfortunate who had ventured too far out in the surf suddenly began to shout "Sauvez-moi! Sauvez-moi!" "That fellow," pronounced the elegant gentleman, "is either a Frenchman or a snob." While the two of them debated the proposition, the shouts ceased, for the swimmer obligingly drowned.
Now the two, the couple, debated whether he is a snob or a Frenchman, because only two persons speak French -- the French or the snob -- and rather than simply saying "Save me!" he says "Sauvez-moi!" So who is he? Nobody is bothered about saving him, though who he is can be decided later on.
Buddha used to say to his disciples, "I have heard about a man who was shot with an arrow and was dying, but he was a philosopher. A physician came, and the physician wanted to pull out the arrow, but the philosopher said, 'Wait. First things first. Who has tried to kill me? I must know whether he is a friend or an enemy, whether the arrow has been deliberately used against me or just by accident, whether the arrow is poisoned or not poisoned.' The physician said, 'I know you are a great philosopher, but please keep your philosophy away from you right now. Let me pull out the arrow first; otherwise you are creating such problems, they will not be decided, and the arrow will kill you.' The philosopher said, 'Do you believe in the soul? Does the soul survive after the man dies? First things first!' The physician said, 'You are a fool! These are not first things! Now the first thing is how to pull out this arrow. These things you can decide later on.'"
Kabir is not interested in doctrines, philosophies. He says this life is divine -- don't bother about heaven and hell. Don't think about faraway subjects; be realistic; be existential.
O FRIEND! HOPE FOR HIM WHILST YOU LIVE; KNOW WHILST YOU LIVE, UNDERSTAND WHILST YOU LIVE: FOR IN LIFE DELIVERANCE ABIDES.
Don't talk about what happens after death and don't think about a god who sits somewhere in a high throne in the skies: "... FOR IN LIFE DELIVERANCE ABIDES" -- in life there is liberation. Life itself is a
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